RRosternomics
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Pirates PIT

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GM: Larry Doughty

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.01× league · TAB +13.5
+13.5TAB — talent above budget1st/26
+16.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)2nd/26
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-3.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag6th/26
17%dead money %5th/26
0.605win %1st/26
47.8roster fWAR1st/26
+4surplus $M (value vs cost)3rd/26
$23Mpayroll $M13th/26

1991: made playoffs · 98–64. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFAndy Van Slyke 135GCecil Espy 25GGary Redus 12G
LFBarry Bonds 150GLloyd McClendon 14GGary Redus 11G
RFBobby Bonilla 104GGary Varsho 45GLloyd McClendon 18G
SSJay Bell 156GCurtis Wilkerson 15GCarlos García 9G
2BJosé Lind 149GCurtis Wilkerson 30GCarlos García 1G
3BSteve Buechele 142GBobby Bonilla 67GJohn Wehner 36G
1BOrlando Merced 105GGary Redus 47GLloyd McClendon 22G
STARTERSZane Smith 5.0WARDoug Drabek 4.0WARJohn Smiley 3.1WARRandy Tomlin 3.0WARBob Walk 1.4WAR
CMichael LaValliere 105GDon Slaught 69GTom Prince 19G
BULLPEN★ Bill Landrum 17svStan Belinda 0hBob Patterson 0hBob Kipper 0hNeal Heaton 0hRoger Mason 0hRosario Rodriguez 0hMark Huismann 0h
CMichael LaValliere 105 · Don Slaught 69 · Tom Prince 19
1BOrlando Merced 105 · Gary Redus 47 · Lloyd McClendon 22
2BJosé Lind 149 · Curtis Wilkerson 30 · Carlos García 1
3BSteve Buechele 142 · Bobby Bonilla 67 · John Wehner 36
SSJay Bell 156 · Curtis Wilkerson 15 · Carlos García 9
LFBarry Bonds 150 · Lloyd McClendon 14 · Gary Redus 11
CFAndy Van Slyke 135 · Cecil Espy 25 · Gary Redus 12
RFBobby Bonilla 104 · Gary Varsho 45 · Lloyd McClendon 18
SPZane Smith 5.0 · Doug Drabek 4.0 · John Smiley 3.1 · Randy Tomlin 3.0 · Bob Walk 1.4
BP★ Bill Landrum 17 · Stan Belinda 0 · Bob Patterson 0 · Bob Kipper 0 · Neal Heaton 0 · Roger Mason 0 · Rosario Rodriguez 0 · Mark Huismann 0

Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

1991 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Barry Bonds 26 arb 1537.8 2.3 +2.3
Zane Smith 30 FA-elig 365.0 2.2 +0.8
Bobby Bonilla 28 arb 1574.7 2.4 +0.4
Jay Bell 25 arb 1574.4 0.4 +2.3
Doug Drabek 28 arb 364.0 3.4 -1.0
Andy Van Slyke 30 FA-elig 1383.7 2.2 +0.0
John Smiley 26 arb 333.1 1.1 +0.8
Randy Tomlin 25 pre-arb 323.0 0.1 +1.7
Orlando Merced 24 – 1202.6 – –
Don Slaught 32 FA-elig 772.2 0.8 +0.6
Michael LaValliere 30 FA-elig 1082.0 1.0 +0.1
Bob Walk 34 FA-elig 251.4 0.8 -0.0
Jose Lind 27 arb 1501.2 0.6 +0.1
Gary Varsho 30 arb 991.0 0.2 +0.4
Bill Landrum 33 arb 610.9 0.8 -0.3
John Wehner 24 – 370.8 – –
Bob Patterson 32 FA-elig 540.7 0.3 +0.1
Lloyd McClendon 32 arb 850.7 0.3 +0.1
Tom Prince 26 arb 260.5 0.1 +0.2
Roger Mason 32 – 240.5 – –
Steve Buechele↔ TEX 29 FA-elig 310.5 0.2 +0.2
Gary Redus 34 FA-elig 980.3 0.6 -0.4
Jeff King 26 pre-arb 330.2 0.2 -0.1
Mark Huismann 33 – 50.1 – –
Neal Heaton 31 FA-elig 440.1 1.0 -1.0
Jeff Banister 26 – 10.1 – –
Hector Fajardo↔ TEX 20 – 20.0 – –
Rick Reed 25 – 10.0 – –
Paul Miller 26 – 10.0 – –
Jeff Richardson 25 pre-arb 6-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Cecil Espy 28 – 43-0.0 – –
Jeff Schulz 30 – 3-0.1 – –
Rosario Rodriguez 21 – 18-0.1 – –
Carlos Garcia 23 – 12-0.1 – –
Jose Gonzalez↔ CLE 26 FA-elig 16-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Joe Redfield 30 – 11-0.2 – –
Carmelo Martinez↔ CIN 30 FA-elig 11-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Bob Kipper 26 FA-elig 52-0.3 0.8 -1.0
Scott Bullett 22 – 11-0.3 – –
Stan Belinda 24 pre-arb 60-0.3 0.2 -0.4
Vicente Palacios 27 arb 36-0.6 0.1 -0.5
Mitch Webster↔ CLE 32 FA-elig 36-0.7 0.3 -0.6
Curtis Wilkerson 30 FA-elig 85-0.7 0.5 -0.9

Key additions (new vs 1990)

PlayerfWAR
Gary Varsho1.0
John Wehner0.8
Roger Mason0.5
Steve Buechele0.5
Jeff Banister0.1
Hector Fajardo0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1990)

Player1990 fWAR
Sid Bream3.2
Wally Backman1.4
R.J. Reynolds0.4
Ted Power0.3
Scott Ruskin0.3
Mike York0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1991 payroll
$23.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1991, 1991–1997. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Zane Smith307.000$2.2M$2.5M$2.7M$3.1MFREE AGENT$400k
Andy Van Slyke308.000$2.2M$4.3M$4.9M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Michael LaValliere307.000$1.0M$1.9M$2.3MFREE AGENT
Neal Heaton319.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Bob Walk3411.000$850k$2.0M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Bob Kipper266.000$835kFREE AGENT
Don Slaught329.000$767k$1.7M$1.1M$1.5M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Gary Redus349.000$600k$825kFREE AGENT
Curtis Wilkerson308.000$450kFREE AGENT
Bob Patterson326.000$325k$785kFREE AGENT
Mitch Webster328.000$252kFREE AGENT
Steve Buechele296.000$158k$1.4MFREE AGENT
Carmelo Martinez308.000$94kFREE AGENT
Jose Gonzalez266.000$49kFREE AGENT
Cecil Espy288.000—$250kFREE AGENT
Mark Huismann338.000—FREE AGENT
Roger Mason327.000—$225kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Doug Drabek285.000$3.4MFREE AGENT
Bobby Bonilla285.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Barry Bonds265.000$2.3MFREE AGENT
John Smiley265.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Bill Landrum335.000$820kFREE AGENT
Jose Lind274.000$575kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Bell255.000$380kFREE AGENT
Lloyd McClendon324.000$260kARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Varsho303.000$155kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vicente Palacios274.000$125kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Prince264.000$118kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Reed253.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Jeff King262.000$215kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Stan Belinda242.000$190kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Tomlin251.000$120kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Richardson252.000$105kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Banister26–—
Scott Bullett220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hector Fajardo200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Garcia231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orlando Merced241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Miller260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Redfield30–—
Rosario Rodriguez212.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Schulz302.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Wehner240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Pirates 1991; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.

What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985

RegimeSeasonsWin %Playoff %Pennant %WS %
WINDOW 28152.131.05.01.1
CONTEND 30056.964.719.710.3
FORCED-SPEND 25648.09.81.61.6
REBUILD 32143.31.20.30.3
Rosternomics — quantifying front-office skill, attribution-clean. Follow @rosternomics on X. Decision-makers on record back to 1933; resource-controlled metrics (WAR & payroll) cover 1985–2026.
Data: FanGraphs (WAR), Baseball-Reference & the Chadwick Bureau register (rosters, IDs), the Lahman Database, Baseball America prospect rankings (via The Baseball Cube), and public payroll records. Transaction and trade data was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Executive birth/death data via Wikidata (CC0); bios are original. Emoji graphics by OpenMoji (CC BY-SA 4.0).
All figures are franchise-level outcomes credited to the decision-maker in the acquisition year — not solely attributable to one executive.